With Laval in an extended break following the postponement of their final game before the holiday break and their first game after, it’s a good time to assess how things are going about a third of the way through the season. We begin, at always, with the goalies and defencemen.
The Habs were finally able to put one in the win column this past week as they split a pair of games before an early extended holiday break due to COVID. Jeff Petry returned from injury and made some interesting comments following a loss that certainly didn’t help anyone’s cause.
While it was an off day for the Habs, one of many in the near future, there was still some news of note on Monday, highlighted by another player being placed in COVID protocol.
It turns out that Saturday’s originally scheduled game against the Bruins isn’t the only one the Habs will have to make up. On Sunday, the NHL and NHLPA announced that all cross-border games before the holiday break have been postponed, meaning the Canadiens have had all three of their upcoming games taken off the schedule.
Saturday became an off-day for the Habs following the postponement of their game against Boston but there was still plenty of news. The team announced that Artturi Lehkonen has been placed in COVID protocol while Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault have been put on injured reserve.
A day after not being able to play in front of fans in their victory over the Flyers, the Habs won’t be playing their next game at all as the league announced that Saturday’s contest against the Bruins has been postponed.
The Habs have decided to let Mattias Norlinder continue his development at home as they announced on Thursday that he has been assigned back to Frolunda of the SHL while they’ve also recalled Cayden Primeau to start tonight against Philadelphia.
Despite a depleted lineup due to injuries and plenty of recalls to Montreal, Laval still had a strong week, picking up a pair of victories in three games to hang around the playoff picture.
November was another rough month for the Habs as they weren’t able to shake their early-season funk. Nevertheless, a handful of players stood out amongst the rest, earning the most votes from our readers for our monthly three stars.
It’s hard to win in any hockey league when you’re only averaging a goal scored per game. That’s all the Habs could muster up this past week and unsurprisingly, their losing streak continued with some more bad luck and bad lineup decisions along the way.